Valentine’s Memories and Deep Dark Chocolate Caramels

When I was growing up there wasn’t a holiday that went unnoticed in my household.   It didn’t matter what it was, if there was an excuse to celebrate, then my parents were the first in line to make sure it became part of our family tradition.  I sometimes think they wished there were more holidays, because everything in our lives was an excuse for a party.

Every Valentine’s Day we would come tumbling downstairs to breakfast, where a small gift would be waiting for us beside our  breakfast plates.  When we were little, it was chocolates, or a card, and as we got older the gifts, which were never elaborate, were carefully selected to fit where my sister and brother and I were in our respective lives.

If one of us had developed an interest in flowers, or cars, or, in my case, dieting, then a hand selected gift supporting our interests was  left gift wrapped on the table.   It was a wonderful way to grow up, and I think that’s why entertaining and celebrations have become such a significant part of my life.

And to share that joy with you, here is a recipe to create your own chocolates to give the one you love this Valentine’s Day.

DEEP DARK CHOCOLATE CARAMELS

Yield: 150

4 cups heavy cream

2 ½ cups light corn syrup

4 ½ cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 pound, 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

2 sticks of unsalted butter cut into 16 pieces

Vegetable cooking spray

1.     Spray an 11 ¾ X 16 ¾ inch baking pan with vegetable spray. Set aside but place in a spot that will not be moved.

2.     In a heavy 4 quart saucepan, combine 2 cups cream, corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Clip on candy thermometer. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon about 15-20 minutes. Wash down the sides with a watered pastry brush to remove sugar crystals.

3.     Cook, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 220F, about 6-8 minutes. Be careful the mixture doesn’t boil over! Continue stirring and add chocolate and butter; keep mixture boiling and slowly add remaining 2 cups cream. Cook, still stirring until temperature reaches 240F (soft ball stage) about 80-120 minutes, keeping mixture at a low boil.

Without scraping the pot, pour mixture onto prepared pan. Let stand uncovered at room temperature for 24 hours without moving. Unmold caramel onto a wooden cutting board and cut into equal size squares.

TEMPERING KEY GUIDELINES

·        Room must be cool @ 65F degrees, little humidity

·        Chocolate must contain 31% of cocoa butter to be able to temper

·        Keep chocolate stored away from the sunlight between 70-72 degrees.

·        When making liqueur-flavored truffles, add the liquor at the end of boiling the cream, just before pouring over the chocolate to preserve the flavor.

·        If for any reason you have “over-chilled” your ganache and it is too stiff to work with, just reheat it a bit over a double boiler.

TEMPERING BASICS

1.     Raise the chocolate temperature to at least 100F degrees, 115 for dark chocolate, and it should not exceed 120F. Keep it at this temperature for a few minutes.

2.     Lower the temperature to 85-87 degrees (89-91 degrees for dark).

3.     Reheat the chocolate just a few degrees; then test for proper temper. (the temperature is just few degrees below body temperature)

The Cutter Sets Have Arrived!

I’m often reminded of the saying, if you want to hear the sound of god’s laughter, tell him your plans!  When I decided to move forward with the Small Bite Cutters set last year, I had visions of shipping the cutter sets buy the hundreds just before Christmas, then sitting back to watch sandwich flower bouquets sprout by the hundreds from Maine to California.

When word came that the cutters had arrived at the warehouse, I was over the moon.  And then I discovered that while all of the cutters had been delivered,  there were 75 crescent shaped cutters in one carton, and in another, 2000 flower shaped cutters.  When the plan is to send boxes of eight cutters with instructions to all the tea houses and gift stores and individuals you’d hoped to, somewhere in the back of that warehouse, I was certain I’d heard the sound of someone giggling loudly.  And quite loudly, to be honest!

The rest of the cutters arrived just a few weeks ago and they were definitely worth the wait.  A revised edition of the Finger Sandwiches book that inspired the cutters also became available at about the same time, and so it with with enormous pride that I encourage you to get out there and make a rookie entrepreneur proud by creating your own flower sandwich bouquet to give this strange winter season a tasty lift!

To purchase your set of Small Bite Cutters and the New Finger Sandwiches Book, visit www.salviapress.com

The House That I Grew Up In

I still live in the house I grew up in.  Not many people can say that  these days, but my house and I have been a part of each other for so long, that it has become as much  of a character in my life as the people who once lived here. In every nook and cranny, there are stories to be told and delightful  memories to be found, from the books that fill my library, to the creak of the wooden staircase, to the delicious smells that emanated from our kitchen.  I am particularly reminded of the lives that once gathered under this roof during the holidays, when every room was filled with music and laughter and the sheer joy of just being together.

My Great Uncle Charlie  bought the house in 1931.  It isn’t a big house any means.  It used to have two bedrooms and a bathroom before I remodeled it a few years  back, and yet, it was filled to the brim with family.  Charlie’s brother  lived in the attic.  His sister and her kids had one of the two bedrooms.  My mom had the other one, and my great grandmother, Babba, slept on the couch. Charlie lived in the tiny room that now serves as my office.  My brother and sister and I stayed on the weekends.  I still find it hard to believe that eight or nine of us shared just one tiny bathroom, and for most of my childhood, our front yard was  a street, until the city decided to move the street closer to the train tracks and provided us with a lawn, a sidewalk , and some trees.

Our kitchen was half the size it is now, but naturally, it was the place we all gathered.  Winter, spring, summer or fall, that miniscule kitchen was a beehive of activity.  My mother, her sister and my grandmother all vied for counter space  to prepare food, and friends and neighbors would drop by unannounced with produce from their gardens, or to share some gossip over a hot cup of coffee.

Most of my family are gone now, but their memories are with me every day.  My custom-built cabinets are filled with my grandmothers china and my aunt’s crystal glassware, and there are mementos and keepsakes all over the kitchen, from the tiny set of tea cups my grandmother once used when her girlfriends would come over for high tea, to the vintage cookie jar that sits on the counter overlooking the new stove where I test the recipes in all of my cookbooks.   A stove, I might add, that may actually be larger than the kitchen itself used to be!

I love the house I grew up in because it reminds me of the people and times I have loved most.  Their guidance, support and wisdom inspired me to pursue my dreams and to share my passion for cooking, and entertaining for my own friends and family in a place that is as familiar to me as the laughter that is stored in these walls.

Here is a recipe I would like to share with you this holiday season. It combines lemons, blackberries and an easy to prepare pastry for a delicious holiday treat.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season

Kim

A Rookie Entrepreneur Goes Global

I have been cooking for as long as I can remember.  I grew up in a household where food was as essential as air.  It was our way of connecting, of celebrating, of remembering everything from the way bread smelled as it baked, or how we worked together as a family to create holiday traditions over a roasted turkey and stuffing, fresh out of the oven, or watch a gentle evening pass on a warm summer night with a glass of beer and hamburgers with melted cheese and tomatoes picked from the garden that afternoon.  I never lost my passion for food or the smells of ingredients co-mingling on the stove and I’ve been lucky enough to turn that love of food and community into a career.

Shortly after publishing my first book, I crisscrossed the country promoting this new venture with demonstrations and book signings, and I was continually asked where I got the cutters for the finger sandwiches and dessert canapes that had become my signature gastronomical contribution.  Originally I worked from a set of individually selected cutters that took forever to assemble and which cost a fortune.  Cookie cutters didn’t work because they are not only made from lightweight aluminum, they are often extremely detailed to provide bakers with a blueprint to embellish with frosting.

What I needed were simple geometric shapes in graduated sizes that made the fillings – the interior aspect of finger sandwiches and dessert canapes – the star of the show.

I began developing cutters that ranged between 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches in size to create the perfect morsel, but finding a manufacturer willing to customize a cutter set for a very small business proved next to impossible.

Through friends of friends, I eventually met the “Cutter King”, a kind and helpful man who agreed to produce a set of graduated cutters for me that were manufactured in China, and which have just arrived on my doorstep in time to debut them in tea shops, gift stores, and homes across the country.

I can hardly wait to see what people think of these cutters. They are designed to be fun to use, easy to clean and safe to store, but above all, they are meant to make your next hostess party or holiday event an extension of the afternoons I spent with my own family in the kitchen creating delicious food and unforgettable memories based on a shared love of all the things that  brought us together as a family in the first place.

Ode to the Trade Show, by a Trade Show Veteran

In my publishing career I have attended more trade shows than most, and with the exception of the very early years, trade shows have provided the opportunity to meet and greet valued customers and introduce yourself and your product to new customers.In the current economy, trade shows have become an enormous gamble. The cost of participating in one is still the same as it has ever been, but with the “new economy”, the return on investment runs from questionable to downright sobering.Which is why I am over the moon to report that the Tastefully Small Cookbooks by Salvia Press was a MAJOR success on every conceivable level  at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas this past June!  Not only did I have a wonderful time pitching my new eight piece cutter set to prospective retailers (due October 1st, retail $19.95), I showed  pages from my next book, CUPCAKE CELEBRATION (due Feb ’12) and I wrote so many orders that I covered the cost of the entire trip and then some!I was nervous about doing the show at first,  but my fears were quickly overcome by the incredibly warm reception we received by people who had purchased one or more of my books in the past. Not only did they take the time to share their positive experiences with  the books, I was intensely flattered when they referred to specific recipes by name when sharing their experiences.  I can’t tell you what it means to me that clients read, use and enjoy my books Most authors would be envious!With all of that positive feedback, I  decided to participate in the Tea Expo East in Philadelphia on September 9-10; so PLEASE find the time to visit me in September. I would welcome your attendance and to prove it, I will be serving samples from my book, Tastefully Small Finger Sandwiches!

• In the meantime, here’s a treat from my latest book, TASTEFULLY SMALL SAVORY BITES.

ASIAN BEEF CARPACCIO

1/4 pound very fresh, good quality raw sirloin steak

2 T minced chives

1 T sesame oil

20 Sesame Crisps (available in the Asian foods section of most grocery stores)

Minced chives, as a garnish

Black and white sesame seeds as a garnish

Place steak in freezer for half an hour.  Then, using a serrated knife, shave it thinly.  Stir 2 T chives into sesame oil and toss to coat on both sides.

Gently place a slice or two of shaved teak into each sesame cup.  Garnish with minced chives and sesame seeds.

Where Does the Time Go When You Are Busy Cooking?

What a fantastically crazy year that has been so far.  Sometimes it feels  like an adventure series, because I know just enough about what is on my schedule to know that whatever I have planned will never match the outcome I had in mind.   Experimenting with food has always been like that for me.  I know what I want to make, but when I get into the the kitchen to gather all the ingredients together, I find that what I had hoped to accomplish is a far cry from what I actually create.

Sometimes the results are fantastic and sometimes they aren’t.  But I am so in love with the process of cooking and working with the raw ingredients, the way a minor adjustment in seasoning can result in a major improvement in how a dish tastes , or how an unlikely combination of fruits and vegetables with just the right sauce can inspire me to create a recipe I hadn’t quite anticipated, that I am over the moon when I am in the kitchen.

I have been working on a new book for the past few years that is finally starting to come together, and I am not only beginning to see how the bliss of being alone in the kitchen with my measuring cups and copper bowls is starting to take shape in a cookbook that stands alone as the perfect cupcake manual, it also blends perfectly with my other Tastefully Small series to create an entire tableaux of cooking and entertaining books that I am truly proud of.   We have been working on the photography for the past several months, with a projected release date sometime in early Spring, but I have to say that I feel very blessed to see my lifelong passion for food – for working with and experimenting with food, become a reality that will last beyond my lifetime.

To help celebrate the advent of spring, and the pure joy of creating good food, here is one of my favorite recipes….its easy to make and it tastes wonderful!

STUFFED STRAWBERRIES

Yield 18 strawberries

18 large strawberries

4 ounces whipped cream cheese

2 hard boiled eggs, mashed into a paste

2 T sugar

Sliced or slivered almonds, toasted, as a garnish

Melon baller

Pastry bag, fitted with medium star tip

Slice the top off of each strawberry, exposing the interior, and cut a small slice off the bottom if necessary so it stands level.  Using the melon baller, carefully scoop out the center.

Combine cream cheese, egg yolks, and sugar together in a small bowl.  Using the pastry bag, pipe this mixture into each strawberry, mounding the filling decoratively.  Garnish with almonds.

Stuffed strawberries can be prepared up to 12 hours in advance.  Keep them covered and chilled until ready to use.

Easter, Food and Memories

When I was a kid, my family made a big deal out of every  holiday that came along.   On St Patrick’s Day,  we would sit down over a meal of corned beef  and cabbage, and  there was always  some  kind of  green dessert to help finish the meal.  We  weren’t Irish.  We just loved to celebrate.

Easter, as you can imagine, was huge.

My  sister and I were the oldest grandchildren, so we were accustomed to getting some pretty incredible gifts.  The local German bakery molded chocolates in all shapes for the holiday, and our great Uncle would purchase two of the largest chocolate rabbits the bakery had.  Each rabbit stood over three feet tall and believe it or not, my sister and I eventually ate every last bite. The other tradition we never tired of was the Easter Egg hunt.  My parents held it in our rather expansive yard, which includes an extensive terraced garden, or in inclement weather, we would have it in the small two story house where my grandmother had lived in since SHE was a girl.   There were an amazing number of places where treats could be hidden, and while I loved getting novelty candies and small toys, I think the part I still remember the most was listening for the adults to call out encouragement, depending on how close, or far away, we were to our goals. “You’re warm…no warmer….hot…now you’re boiling hot” they would cry as we got closer to each treat.  I still have one of my most cherished Easter finds.  It was a book on Clara Barton that my Dad had hidden with the rest of the books in the matching set of bookcases at the entrance to the living room, and every time I walk by that bookcase now, I am reminded of  just how blessed my childhood was.

I still love chocolate as much as I did when I was hoovering those chocolate rabbits with my sister, but  I’ve become much more aware of  the rich and  subtle nuances of chocolate (thanks in large part to the candy classes I’ve been teaching for years) as well as the quality of the chocolate that I eat and bake with. I would even go so far as to say that I have become very fussy about the kind of chocolate I use, but I will never be sophisticated enough to give up entirely on the fun of an Easter Egg hunt, and to this day, I find opportunities to hide gifts for the children in my neighborhood in my yard.

The cheesecake truffles  below make an easy to prepare in advance dessert for Easter, especially if placed in an Easter basket after being rolled in colored sugars!  Not your traditional Easter eggs for sure, but their cream cheesiness will delight your guess after a big meal AND a surprise chocolate truffle in the center is sure to please even picky chocolate lovers like me!

Can Someone PLEASE tell me why Red Velvet Cake is so terrific?

I’ve been working a lot on my next book about special occasion cupcakes, and in addition to creating decorating ideas that have both the “wow factor” and are easy to do, I have also thinking about the kinds of cake and frostings I want to feature.

It’s no secret that Red Velvet Cake is and always has been one of the hottest cakes around.  Jessica  Simpson and Nick Lachey had it at their wedding in 2002.  Oprah Winfrey put Doughboys Cafe and Carousel Cakes on the map with her swoonfest to this amazing dessert, and the New York Times called it “vampy” in an essay about which celebrity the cake would be if it were, in fact, a celebrity (Marilyn Monroe was the hands down choice).

With that in mind, I started to test recipes and frostings in the hopes of creating my own unforgettable cake, but each time I tried, I was disappointed in the results.  Don’t get me wrong….friends and neighbors LOVED the cakes, but I felt there was something missing; the cakes LOOKED pretty, but there was no flavor.  Or at least not the careful blend of ingredients I thought would really make the cake pop.  I used cocoa in the batter, but the finished cake didn’t taste like cocoa.  It was moist, which is good, but it lacked character.  Nothing about the taste of the cake stayed with me, the way I think good food of any kind should.

I also know to get that  red color, you need to use 1-2ounces of  red food coloring, and that really puts me off!  I have found a source for completely natural food colorings which I intend to use, but even so, what am I missing?  Could it be that the cream cheese frosting lulls us into thinking that the overall cake is good by default, or is it because the cake is such a gorgeous color that we sink our teeth into without noticing that its really just another cake mix?   I would hate think our taste buds were that shallow!

On another note, in a conversation I had at the most recent Houseware’s Show in Chicago, I found out that many restaurants use cream cheese flavoring (available from Lorrain Oils) instead of actual cream cheese because it doesn’t spoil as quickly…I’ll have to try it!

Keep a look out for pictures of some the photos from the cupcake book on my website. I’m very excited about this book and I believe I will deliver a book that is very, VERY easy to use with very sophisticated designs.

In the meantime, here is my recipe for Black Forest Cherry Boxes that will help bring a little color into YOUR life…..

1/12 C (3 sticks) butter, softened

2 1/2 C sugar

4 eggs

2 t vanilla

1 C sour cream

1 1/2 C flour

1/2 C cake flour

1 C Dutch processed cocoa powder

2 1/4 t baking powder

1/2 salt

3 C fresh or frozen pitted cherries

1/2 C sugar

3/4 C cherry juice

1 1/2 plus 1/2 C sweet cherry wine

1 1/2 C heavy cream

Mint Leaves, as a garnish

Party Bag fitted with 3/4 inch star tip

Preheat oven to 325 degree.  Grease bottom and sides of a 9×11 inch baking pan.  Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth.  Add sugar and beat at high speed for 4 minutes, then at medium speed, beat in eggs one at a time.  In a small bowl, mix vanilla into sour cream.  In another medium bowl, sift the two flours, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  At low speed and in three stages, alternately add to the butter the dry ingredients and the sour cream.

Spread batter evening into prepared pan.  Bake until the cake springs back when touched, about 50 minutes. Cool.

Trim cake edges and cut cake into a 5 x 7 grid of thirty five 1 1/2 inch x 1/12 inch squares.

To make the filling, combine cherries and sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Add juice and 1/12 C wine and simmer until liquid id slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.  Strain out cherries and return liquid to saucepan.  Boil until reduced, about 3/4 C, about ten minutes.  Pour over cherries and cool.

Carefully scoop out a well in the center of each chocolate box using a grapefruit knife.  With pastry brush, dab all surfaces with remaining cherry wine.

In a small bowl, whip cream until thick and fluffy.

To assemble, gently spoon a little cherry filling into each carved well, mounding it a bit.  Fill pastry bag with whipped cream and pipe a little burst on the side of each cherry mound.  Garnish with minted leaf and sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with this Fabulous Pomegranate Caviar Canape!

When I think of Valentine’s Day,  or the month of February in general, I always remember the small but significant way in which my parents made the fourteenth special for my brother and sisters and I.  We would troop down the narrow staircase to the kitchen where the breakfast table was set with the every day china, and beside each plate,  a little box of candy,  or a Valentine’s Day themed Pez Dispenser.

It is funny how little things, little memories, little gifts, thoughtful gestures, are what we remember most,  sometimes even more than the  major events in our lives.   Maybe that’s why I am so passionate about small foods.  The unexpected surprise of discovering how ingredients blend together and what a delight it is to challenge my palate over and over again with new tastes and new smells has always been more appealing to me than eating the same plate of food until its gone.  Give me a hors d’oeuvres plate with four different appetizers, desserts, or main dish samples, and I am over the  moon! !

If YOU want to celebrate the “redness of the month” with a small but special treat of your own, why not try the simple and elegant Pomegranate Caviar Canape recipe from my Dessert Canapes book?  It is easy to make, and the deep red of the pomegranate fruit says Happy Valentine’s Day to all who taste these sophisticated little bites.

POMEGRANATE CAVIAR CANAPES

Yield 20 canapes

3 medium pomegranates

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 C heavy cream

2 C flour

Sugar

1 C honey

3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated, as a garnish

3 inch round cutter

Score the rind of each pomegranate.  Remove the seeds and place them in a bowl lined with a paper towel.  Three pomegranates should yield about three cups of seeds. Set aside.

Cream the butter, heavy cream and flour in a medium bowl using a rubber spatula or hand mixer.  Cover and chill dough for about an hour or until firm.  Pour some sugar in a shallow dish and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Take 1/3 of the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out 3 inch rounds from the dough.  Press rounds firmly into the sugar to ensure that it sticks, and place on parchment lined baking pans, 1 inch apart.  Prick each round with a fork a few times.  Repeat with remaining dough to yield 20 rounds in total.  Bake ten minutes until the bottom and edges are lightly browned.  Cool.

Combine pomegranate seeds and honey.  Spoon 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds onto the center of each round and top with a sprinkling of grated cheddar.  Serve at once.

Who Needs a New Years Resolution When You Can Have Cheesecake Truffles?

Like virtually everyone else on the planet, I own one of those cell phones that has just about every bell, whistle and wingding you can imagine.  I can text, send photographs, video natural disasters, find out when a movie is playing, order pajamas and update my relationship status, all while I wait for my train to arrive on the platform.The problem is, I don’t really like cell phones.  I LIKE keeping track of friends and loved ones through a good old fashioned date book, so every year I invest in these increasingly arcane journals so I can carefully transcribe all birthdays and any other important events that I’ll need to remember into one easy to reference document. There’s something really comforting about knowing that if I drop my cell phone in the toilet, I can dig up my datebook and find out who to call to get it replaced. Or at least let people know why they may not be hearing from me for a few days.  I also love how updating  my book helps me remember all the wonderful things that happened the year before; the new people I met, the new cooking classes I taught, the new recipe I developed or a some new ingredient I became thoroughly passionate about.When I’m done, as I have done for the past two years, I write on the last blank page of the book;

“Remember to be kinder to yourself and more demanding of others.” I do this, because after one particularly inspiring session with my therapist, she made me repeat this phrase, and then, told me to write it down.  Its easy for me to be hard on myself and make excuses for everyone else around me, but I have learned over the years that because I really drive myself to be the best that I can be, its okay to take care of myself sometimes and let others rise to MY occasion….So if I HAD a New Years Resolution, it would be this; “Be kinder to yourself and demand more of others”.  Because, as time goes by, life seems more and more difficult for the people I love,  and,  at times more challenging than I would have ever expected. Remember to be kinder to yourself, and to get you started, here’s a Cheesecake Truffle recipe I think you will love. They freeze very well, so you can reward yourself every time you keep your promise to yourself!

CHEESECAKE TRUFFLES

Yield: 60 truffles

2 1/2 pounds (five 8 oz package) cream cheese

1/8 t salt

1 1/2 C sugar

1/3 C sour cream

2 t lemon juice

1 t vanilla

6 large eggs and 2 egg yolks, room temperature

4 T butter

2 C ground Zwieback biscuits (or graham cracker crumbs)

1/2 C decorative sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 300F.  Mix cream cheese, salt, and sugar in large mixing bowl until smooth.  Add sour cream and beat at medium speed until combined.  Keep scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure the mixture is evenly combined.  Then add lemon juice and vanilla and beat until well incorporated. With the mixer running, add eggs and yolks.  Mix until batter is pale yellow and smooth.  Pour into an ungreased 9 x13 inch baking pan.  Bake at 300 degrees until mixture is set or internal temperature reaches 150 degrees about 1 hour.  The surface will be off white to beige, not golden brown.  Freeze for 2 to 3 hours.

While the cheesecake is chilling, melt butter in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and add crumbs., mixing until well combined.  Stir in sugar crystals and set aside. Once cheesecake is firm, scoop out about 1/4 C at a time and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls.  This mixture is sticky, so you may need to dust your hands with flour periodically.  Roll each ball in the butter/crumb mixture to coat the surface.  Place in paper cups and serve. Truffles can be frozen for up to three weeks and thawed at room temperature.  The crumb coating will be a bit soft unless truffles are left uncoated until just before serving.